In his three-year varsity boys basketball career, North Warren Regional High School's Glen Nanius has seen more junk defenses than Fred Sanford.

Boxes-in-ones, triangle-in-twos, zones, overplaying man-to-mans, the 6-foot-4 junior has played against them all.

But tonight, it was Jefferson Township High School's straight man-to-man that Nanius had to deal with in a 61-43 loss in a key Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference Freedom Division game played in Blairstown Township.

Nanius, the only player in the NJSIAA who's in the top 10 in both scoring (seventh at 25.7) and rebounding (sixth at 12.8), according to NJ.com, was held to 16 points by the Falcons. He still managed to pull down a career-high 22 rebounds for the Patriots, who do not have a senior on their roster.

"This is the school's fault," North Warren coach Mike Farrell said. "This is our fourth game since Friday. That's five days. The kids gave me everything they have, they just ran out of gas. My AD (John Simonetti) said it was the only way we could squeeze all these games in, but it was just too much."

North Warren (7-5 overall, 4-3 division) was also without the services of center Hunter Ackerson for the fourth straight game. Ackerson injured his Achilles heel and will be out until at least the state playoffs, according to Farrell.

North Warren actually held a six-point lead (37-31) with three minutes to go in the third quarter before the roof caved in. The Patriots committed 26 turnovers in the game, 10 in the last 10 minutes.

And when the Patriots weren't turning it over, they were taking bad shots. Nanius, who was defended by Jeremy DeCotlis for most of the third quarter and reserve Dan Brown for much of the fourth, was limited to just one field goal and five shots in the second half.

"I feel pretty sore right now," Nanius said. "It wasn't just that we had to play every day, but we had no time to prepare for any of our games. That was the hardest part."

The left-handed Nanius took 13 shots and the Patriots were hassled so much on the perimeter that they struggled mightily to get Nanius the ball in his prime scoring areas, which is anywhere from 20 feet on in. Cam Esposito, who drilled four 3-pointers in the first half for 12 points, was 0-for-4 the second half and North Warren was 1-for-12 with five turnovers in the fourth quarter.

Chris Telman came off the bench to score 16 points for Jefferson (9-2, 6-1), including 11 in the second half while giving the Falcons some defensive energy as well. J.R. Reese had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds and of course, there was DeCotlis and Brown with their crackerjack defensive work.

Nanius and his teammates got out the gate in good shape. Nanius finished off a drive, completed a three-point play off a follow-up and put back a missed shot on his second try, giving him seven points in the first five minutes and North Warren a 10-8 lead.

A six-point flurry ignited by reserve Jake Smith's baseline jumper and successive baskets by Matt Olah -- both off assists from Nanius -- broke a 31-31 tie and gave North Warren a six-point lead going into the final four minutes of the third quarter.

But the Patriots hit the wall at that point and Jefferson was there to seize control.